Planning, planning and then a little luck!
A good colleague was making a music video and in this connection I was offered to make the drone shots, but as most probably also know, one of the conditions for flying depends on the weather conditions and the plan for this particular music video required lots of light and an exciting location that matched the song’s content.
The place where they would shoot were at Amager Strandpark, Denmark, with a nice horizon in the background.
“The weather forecast for the next 5 days consists mainly of rain and wind except Tuesday – do you think it’s an option?”
Now the weather in Denmark is known to be untidy and a 5-day forecast can change a lot in both a positive and negative direction. When I was asked if that was an option, of course I said yes, but with the note that the recordings had to be canceled if the weather did not allow a safe flight. Monday evening, the day before the scheduled flight, I eagerly checked the weather forecast as well as the conditions at Amager Strandpark – A decision had to be taken on this data and my decision was a big GO to the drone recordings.
Sunshine and blue sky – perfect light
Tuesday afternoon we met all together. The band had their gear with and the drone was ready. The weather was not just ok, it was almost perfect – the temperature was low and it blew a bit, but the luck had certainly remedied us. We chose to make everything ready and shortly before the golden hour entered, we started the recordings. People around us stopped and followed in our recordings, which simply resulted in the band giving the whole arm! Just 1.5 hours later we said goodbye to each other – the job was solved and the recordings were in the house!
Time for reflection on the first sunny day in 2018 at Amager Strandpark
When I’m out and photograph or film, I often get caught up with the situation and this literally means I’m doing a mental studio of the whole area. The advantage of this is of course that I read the area significantly better and thus also get the opportunity to utilize the natural light, details and possibilities, but it can also result in forgetting to look beyond these frameworks seeing other options – it is always a difficult balance and it is definitely a challenge that I often face.
At Amager Strandpark there are many possibilities to capture some amazing pictures and the possibilities of different compositions even though my focus is constantly on the band and their wishes. It’s a must see place in Denmark!
In connection with the footage of the music video, I chose to make some extra recordings as the atmosphere, the surroundings and the beautiful sky invited for more drone flying. The result was some clippings that I chose to collect for a little tribute film for Amager Strandpark No. 3 – the day simply deserves to be honored.
It should be mentioned that I often choose to make long video sequences ie. that I do not stop recording while the drone is positioned or when I switch between the individual recordings. It has its pros and cons. The advantage is, of course, that I have more material to work with when the day is about and therefore not limited to individual recordings. The downside is that the files fill a lot more and it takes longer with the editing process and the selection process.
